Views on the fourth wall from beyond the fourth wall

What I'm Watching

Have you ever had your favourite show cancelled on you before you were ready to let it go? Have you ever wished you could bring the show back in some way so the fun could continue? Fans of the cult favourite show Veronica Mars wanted more, and they were able to make their wish for a Veronica Mars movie come true by providing funding through Kickstarter. The film, which comes out in select theatres on March 14, takes place years after the series ended. It will be tons of fun for fans to see their favourite character come back to life on the big screen, as will it be great to have maybe a bit of closure after the open-ended impromptu series finale in Season 3. But what was so great about Veronica Mars that it needed a movie so long after it was over? In honour of the film, I’m dedicating a post to telling you a bit about the show so you can join in on the fun. Keep reading ›

After the long, hard two weeks when the Olympics ruin the hopes and dreams of all television fans by causing the TV schedule to look like an empty abyss where our only options are to be patriotic and watch the games (Go Team Canada!), or settle for reruns of those shows we should be getting new footage of, the regular programming has returned. Of all the shows that returned this week, Community‘s latest stuck out to me as the best of the bunch. This week’s episode “Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality” (which, can we take a moment to marvel at how hilarious and misleading that title is?) was a return to the bittersweet, emotional core episodes, like “Mixology Certification” and “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas,” that this show is so good at doing. With the additions of Chang, Duncan, and Hickey to the study room table, it was much easier to pair characters off, so we ended up with multiple storylines where our favourite characters are able to grow. Keep reading ›

Every so often, a show appears that teaches you more about the world than you thought a fictional entity could. We live in a time where television has the ability to transcend its label of “vast wasteland,” given to it by Newton N. Minow in 1961, and become art. While the majority of the television is unfortunately filled with an abundance of mind-numbing reality shows and soap operas, there is now, more than ever, a large number of shows for those who want to be challenged by what they see, not just to absorb garbage. Many of these shows can be found on cable networks like HBO, Showtime, AMC, etc., but broadcast networks have been known to put out some of these fantastic shows among their programming of lesser quality. I recently watched the entirety of Friday Night Lights on Netflix (originally an NBC show), and was so impressed with it that I felt compelled to write about it, even though it has now been off the air for just over 3 years. Keep reading ›

When I wrote my top 10 list at the end of 2013, Brooklyn Nine-Nine was only 11 episodes into its first season. Since then, the show has won two Golden Globes, and has had 5 more episodes that demonstrate again and again how confident the show is in what it’s doing. This week’s episode, “The Party,” is the best showcase of how well-established the characters are, and that the chemistry of the ensemble is what really makes the show work well. The episode primarily takes place at Captain Holt’s birthday party, thrown for him by his previously unseen husband, Kevin Cozner (guest star Mark Evan Jackson). The detectives have been prepped by Terry on how to properly act at an “adult party” (cue the orgy jokes), but as expected, none of it sticks and hilarity ensues. Keep reading ›

Last week, I wrote about how I was surprised at the amount of emotion Pierce’s death was handled with. The show managed to give a fitting farewell to possibly the least-loved character, one that highlighted his virtues and nearly brought me to tears. I knew that if Pierce’s death was such an emotional moment, there was no way that the departure of one of the most-loved characters would be anything other than a giant sob-fest. Keep reading ›